A town of 2,916, settled in 1874. Public schools that outperform most of Virginia.
The 3 things Wise does most differently from other towns.
Where Wise’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
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Nothing on the calendar.
Ordered by what stands out in Wise. Another town gets a different order.
The public schools Wise’s kids attend, from kindergarten through graduation, outperform 95% of Virginia’s districts on state tests and graduation. Among towns with similar incomes, they rank near the top.
| School | Grades | Students | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wise Primary | PK–4 | 603 | A− |
| Minnick Education Center - Wise Private | 2–8 | 13 | |
| L.F. Addington Middle | 5–8 | 387 | A |
| Regional Learning Academy/Wise Co | — | Not graded | |
| Wise Co. Alternative Ed. Ctr. | — | Not graded | |
| Wise County Career-Technical Center | — | Not graded |
The typical Wise home is worth about $185,000, up 1.3% in a year, 55% below the Virginia typical home.
About one in 4 of Wise’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Norton (13%), Big Stone Gap (3%) and Pound (2%). Half commute less than 10 miles.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 9% of U.S. communities.
0.4 miles of trails across 1 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Arrowhead Park | — | 2 |
Wise beats the Virginia average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 12.
| What stands out | Wise | VA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 9% | 6.2% |
| More smokers | 16.1% | 12.2% |
| More adults with heart disease | 7.8% | 6.1% |
Wise has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. A typical July afternoon reaches 80°, a January night drops to 24°, and about 47 inches of snow falls in a normal winter.
Wise reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 56% report less.
12 postcards, papers and photographs from public archives, and 3 places on the National Register.
3 places in Wise on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Wise.
Town in Virginia, United States
Wise is a town in Wise County, Virginia. The population was 2,970 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Wise County. It was originally incorporated as the town of Gladeville in 1874. The town's name was changed to Wise in 1924, after Henry A. Wise, the last Virginia governor before the American Civil War and the first governor to hail from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The town is also the home of the University of Virginia's College at Wise.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Wise.
